A busy week in movie land!
Edge Of Tomorrow (2014)
Dir: Doug Liman
Starring: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson
Mysterious aliens have invaded the Earth and are occupying most of mainland Europe. An US Army Officer is forced against his will to fight with the rank and file in a major battle, and dies horribly in the process - only to be resurrected to repeat the days events over and over again.
Ignoring the rather woeful War of the Worlds remake, Tom cruise has some pretty good Sci-Fi credentials - I'm thinking the classic Minority Report and the rather brilliant Oblivion from last year. Edge of tomorrow certainly maintains that standard - I can only really describe it as a bizarre fusion of Starship Troopers and Groundhog Day. It's clever, fast moving, with some breathtaking set pieces, perhaps my only negative; I wasn't overly impressed with the look of the aliens themselves, but overall, it's a pretty wild ride.
American Hustle (2013)
Dir: David O. Russell
Starring: Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper, Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence
Having been caught in a sting by an ambitious FBI agent, a pair of con artists find themselves forced to co-operate in ensnaring some big league players - mayors, governors, senators - and a major mafia boss.
With millions of dollars spent on hype, lavish period costume design and a stellar cast,
American Hustle was billed as one of those great movie events, a work of genius to be beheld in high esteem for generations to come. Sadly, while it does look superb, and there are some great moments, as a cinematic work, it falls just short of the hype.
The most memorable things about the movie remain, for me at least, Christian Bale's rather ridiculous 70's comb over and Amy Adams' range of outfits that leave absolutely nothing to the imagination. Hot damn!
Bronx Warriors (1982)
Dir: Enzo G. Castellari
Starring: Vic Morrow, Christopher Connelly, Fred Williamson, Mark Gregory, Stefania Girolami
A teenage business heiress escapes to the Bronx, now a lawless zone run by local gangs, and chaos ensues...
No two ways about it, this film is a complete sack of shit! It casts more than an admiring glance at genre classics like The Warriors and Escape from New York - but it's an extremely pale imitation. It's camp, nonsensical for the most part, the acting ranges from shockingly bad to scarcely conceivable, the costumes are terrible, the sets are wobbly and the props are laughable. A complete shocker.
Brainstrom (1983)
Dir: Douglas Trumbull
Starring: Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood, Louise Fletcher, Cliff Robertson
A duo of scientists unlock a means to record thoughts and emotions direct from the brain - but can they keep the military away from it?
A curious one, this. I'd never heard of it - saw the mixed reviews, but I'm a sucker for early 80's sci-fi so I thought I'd give it a go.
There are good points - considering it's age, it hasn't dated too badly - it unashamedly utilises the technology of the day, and I'd say this has to be probably the earliest visualisation of the concept of virtual reality. On the minus side though, it does have a bit of naivety to it, there are some awful military and business clichés, but overall - I think it's just trying to be too damn clever.
Gravity (2013)
Dir: Alfonso Cuarón
Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
Disaster strikes for some unlucky astronauts during a space walk as debris from an exploding satellite wipes out their space shuttle, leaving only two alive and stranded in space...
I was gutted that I didn't get to see this in the cinema, being a massive fan of the director's previous film - the seminal, Children Of Men. However, since it's release and subsequent triumphs at the academy awards, I've noticed that quite a lot of negativity has started to come to the fore. I wasn't sure what to expect. I'm really pleased to say that I actually thoroughly enjoyed this film - yes I think it was a bit farfetched, in reality I'm pretty sure that the situation would have been totally hopeless, but just the sheer number of bad situations that this movie throws at poor Sandra Bullock's character is incredible. Quality.
